Did God make a mistake? (Chinese folktale)

Once upon a time in China, there lived a very learned man called Wu Qiao. He was a professor in a large Chinese university and had hundreds of students under his tutelage while several thousand were his admirers and followers. He was seated on a palanquin carried by eight men with a band of five men singing and playing the drum to announce his presence. When he sat a table to eat, thirty dishes were brought before him to appeal to the five senses.

Wu Qiao being a great scholar was always generous in imparting his wisdom to others. His students were always keen to heed every word that he spoke.

One day Wu Qiao was contemplating the mysteries of life under the tranquil shade of a fig tree in his garden. He turned his head and his eyes spotted a large watermelon lying on the ground next to him, nestled in vines and leaves. Looking upwards, he saw the luscious figs on the tree and remarked, “The Creator has surely erred for He should have made the big melon grow on the strong branches of the tree instead of the tender vines. Surely the tender vines would be better suited for small fruit as the fig.”

Sighing, he closed his eyes when… PLOP! A fig dropped from the tree on his head and made a bump. Wu Qiao realized the folly of his words and said, “Indeed! The Creator is great! If the fig tree had borne fruit as large as the watermelon and dropped it on my head, I think I would be killed. The watermelon growing on the ground and the figs growing on the tree are just as they should be.”

Suggested Reading: Stories behind Chinese Idioms (I)
A Treasure House of Chinese Fables: Second Edition - Book Nine
100 Ancient Chinese Fables (Zhongguo gu dai yu yan yi bai pian: Han Ying dui zhao, Yi bai cong shu) 
(Mandarin Chinese Edition)
Ancient Chinese Fables
Chinese Fables Remembered (Asian Folktales Retold)

Why the frogs cry when it rains (Korean folktale)

Long, long ago a little green frog and his old widowed mother lived in a small pond in a tiny fishing village. His name was Chung Kaeguri and though he loved his mother wholeheartedly, he was always making trouble.

Chung Kaeguri always did the opposite of what he was told. Once Mother Kaeguri said, “Kaegul, kaegul. There are some snakes slithering around in the area. Stay close to home today.” Promptly, Chung Kaeguri hopped to his friends and said, “Kaegul, kaegul. Let’s go for an adventure and find some snakes to dodge.” 

Mother Kaeguri was always distressed with her son’s lack of respect for elders and she often wondered, “Why can’t my son be like other frogs?” and she reprimanded him to no avail. She scolded, coaxed and cajoled but the little green frog did as he pleased and blissfully ignored his mother’s wise words. She often wondered how he would manage when she was no more to take care of him.

Being old, Mother Kaeguri worried herself sick over her son’s behaviour. Knowing that she had only a few precious moments of her life left to live, she called her son to her bedside.

Chung Kaeguri waited by his mother’s side for her words with forlorn looks and a bowed head. Finally, Mother Kaeguri said, “My dear son, I don’t have much longer to live. Promise me that when I die, do not bury me on the mountainside instead bury me on the bank of the river.” She knew that her son would not mend his ways and wanting a decent burial, she decided that she would ask of him to bury her in the mountainside fully knowing that he would do just the opposite of what he promised.

Tears flowed down his face and he pleaded with his mother, “Kaegul, kaegul. Please don’t die momma. I will do whatever you ask of me.” But his words were too late as his mother had already left for her heavenly abode. With a heavy heart, he remembered all the times he had troubled his mother and decided that he would repent for all the bad things he had done.

Chung Kaeguri resolved that starting from now; he was going to follow his mother’s instructions to the letter. He knew that his mother’s last wish wasn’t a very prudent one but he did just as she had asked him to and buried her by the river.

Soon, the rains arrived and he looked up at the sky and prayed for the river not to be flooded as it did after a downpour. That summer, the rains were torrential and the river swelled and rose very high, flooding the banks and washing away his mother’s grave.

Chung Kaeguri saw the rushing water washing his mother’s grave away. He sat by the riverbank in the pouring rain and mournfully began to cry. He cried and cried. “Kaegul, kaegul”, he called over and over.

To this day, the green frogs cry when it rains. In Korea, That is why people who do the opposite of what they are told are called Chung Kaeguri.

Make a Chung Kaeguri to tell your tale:

Frog Bean Bag

Origami Hopping Frog

Frog Marionette

Recommended Reading:

Green Frogs:A Korean Folktale

Korean Children's Favorite Stories

Tales of a Korean Grandmother: 32 Traditional Tales from Korea (Tut Books. L)

Of kissing toads and magic carpet rides…

As teachers and parents, we have often been stumped by a child with innocent wonder in his eyes and a question on his lips – ‘Why do dogs chase cats?’ or ‘Why is seawater salty?’. Though these pour quoi questions can confound and confuse, we are often left searching for an answer that is fun and educational at the same time.

The Ancients often attempted to answer these questions too. Though they might have had different reasons – entertainment, lessons on values and morality, fiction over scientific fact or simply the human need to capture the Infinite into the Finite by telling tall tales! Whatever the reason we have a treasure trove of wondrous stories from around the world and more often than not they play a pivotal role to the shaping of social fabric (more on that in my forthcoming posts).

Geography lessons would be so much better if children could journey through the lush terraced paddy fields of China, see the shimmering snowscapes in Russia or take a magic carpet ride through the Byzantine Empire. I introduced obsolete mathematical units of measurement like the ell and the arm using a revamped version from African folktales featuring a popular figure called Ananse the Spider.

Folktales are often sidelined because we perceive them to be just stories that impart morals and obscure wisdom of the past. They can help us to see the thread that binds us humans to the rest of ecology with the cause and effect relationships that many folktales with their simplistic plots subtly express.

Joan I. Glazer in Literature for Young Children (1986) said, “Literature is more experienced than taught”. Folktales are a record of human experience across diverse topographies, coated in rich vocabulary and enduring icons. In my limited understanding, I find that these tall tales often bring the world closer and help the soul peek through a keyhole into a world where it’s always spring and the flowers are all a-bloomin’

Literature for Young Children (4th Edition)